"On bookes and on lerning he it spente"
  • Home
  • Novels, Screenplays & Films
  • Portfolio
  • Services
  • Blog
  • Home
  • Novels, Screenplays & Films
  • Portfolio
  • Services
  • Blog
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

  On Writing, Tennis, and Other Stuff

3/20/2014 0 Comments

A Clockwork Orange

Picture
Stanley Kubrick’s 1960s and early 1970s work was brilliant. He made film making an art form – to the dismay of the cookie-cutter loving movie public who only wanted to see the latest summer blockbuster or the latest smash-’em-up. Kubrick didn’t make films for these kind of people. To want to watch a Kubrick film, you had to have a desire to see how great film making was performed. You not only had to have the fortitude to allow him to indulge his art, but you had to allow him to lead you down the path he was forging. He made watching a film an entirely new experience, for you didn’t just sit there and watch – you became involved.

To put it bluntly, you had to open your mind and think about what you were watching. A Stanley Kubrick film is a thinking person’s film. I know that most people go to the theatre for some good old escapism, so that they don’t have to think. There’s nothing wrong with that. But there is also nothing wrong with being made to think about the film you are watching. We aren’t robots. I refuse to believe that whenever someone enters a theatre, their mind switches off. Maybe you don’t want to think about the state of society and the world you live in when you watch a film – but Stanley Kubrick forces you to so that we don’t become robots and our minds don’t turn to mush.

Kubrick’s portfolio around the turn of the decade of the 1960s was some of the best film making ever made. After A Clockwork Orange, he only made four films over the next 30 years. The time between those films also became longer and longer as he tinkered with them in post-production in search of perfection. This was unfortunate, as his greatness could have been accentuated by many more of his films. A Clockwork Orange was his last brilliant film. Familiar Kubrick futuristic cubism mixed with a great soundtrack is only part of this success story. Kubrick challenges many of society’s dark issues – violence, rape and psychotherapy. In doing so, he challenges the audience to deal with these issues. It is a testament to his courage to take on these issues in a major studio release.

Those who took offense at this film and those who claim to have committed acts similar to those in the film are the people who Kubrick was making this film about – byproducts of a failed society. Disturbing? Yes. Thought-provoking? Oh yes. This is not a comedy, but Kubrick’s dark humour (prevalent in most of his films) is wonderful. Malcom McDowell’s Alex is a perfect picture of a man so tuned in to what he does that he has a complete lack of empathy – a disease now rampant in the 21st century.


0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Archives

    September 2019
    July 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    Categories

    All Favourite Films Of All Time Music My Screenplays My Writing Personal Politics Professional Writing Screenwriting Sports Tennis The Truth Hurts

    Tweets by @IAmTrevorScott
Site powered by Weebly. Managed by Web Hosting Canada